Live Among Us
by Legal Humor
Summary: Will no longer be updating till further notice ...


Story: Live Among us

By: W. Lynn

**Author's Note: **At first I'm sure it would be confusing but please once you're done reading refer to the Author's note at the end of the story.

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**Chapter 1: **Well, That Was Uncalled For

Setting: District UV 5948-348B

I woke up to the sound of screaming and thrashing. My eye's bolted open at the ferocity of it all. I pulled the covers over my head in a fruitless attempt to block out the multiple wails for help and the intensifying rage of gun fire. The sound of something else was mixed amongst the chaos; something animal like. A whimper broke through my pink lips at the unknown conflict shutting my eyes and covering my ears with my small delicate hands. The loud weeping carried on, every now and then an unknown sound; something similar to a screech would blend in with the screams.

Two hours and seventeen minutes later just as quickly as it all started all abruptly went dead silent once more. I slowly removed my thin protection from the outside world revealing my dark room. The only light at the moment was a night light next to my bed that didn't exactly put my hysterical nerves to rest. Yes; even at the age of nine I still rely on a light source to sleep peacefully. I still fear the dark and the many monsters that lurk in its deep sinister abode. I squeezed my Minnie Mouse dolly to my flat bosom before shuffling myself to the edge of my bed.

The youth were full of daring boldness strongly influenced and backed up by the overpowering intent of curiosity. I couldn't help the voice in the back of my head coaxing me to investigate override my instincts to cower in fear and cry out for an unknown guardian. No; I wasn't like that, not in the least.

My feet hit the cold metal floor with a loud smack and I stood motionless for the moment; listening, waiting until the coast was clear. Still my mind had to wonder … what was out there that caused my immediate hesitation. I dismissed the thought thinking I was perhaps over thinking things. I sluggishly made my way to the door; I peeked down at Minnie's permanent encouraging smile edging me on to the task at hand. I turned my gaze back to the slowly but surely approaching door wondering what awaited me past its borders. I stopped in front of the door licking my dry lips before reaching for the bright red button at the side of the door.

I remember how my mom always use to tease me on how I had to stand on my tippy toes to reach the button but after much persuasion and begging I got my own room.

Finally I pushed the button; it turned from red to green and the door whooshed open. I was immediately hit with an overpowering smell that made me lean slightly back on my feet at its supreme vigor … it defiantly had me guessing. I timidly made me way out the safety of my room and into the hall. I was the last door on this corridor so there was only one way to go. I turned to my right. My brows furrowed perplexed at what I was seeing. The hall was still intensely bright as usual though there were lights smashed out and a few flicking eerily. My feet pitter pattered harmoniously against the uncomfortable metal floors. Doors were smashed open, vents pulled out of their hinges, dirt and debris layered the floor and still I couldn't quite put my put my finger on the mysterious smell; like something died in here. I couldn't help stopping at this huge gaping hole in the middle of the floor. I looked up at the ceiling and it too had a hole leading somewhere upstairs. I looked back down at the huge fissure on the floor and cautiously leaned over to peer down into the deep depths. All I could see was the floor underneath but beyond that frontier it was obscured by blackness. I bent down to my knees setting my dolly beside me. I scanned the floor around me spotting a good sized rock and picking it up. I hovered it over the void and released it. With my fingers I counted down the seconds.

"1…2…3…4…5…6…7"

At that moment a loud crack sounded off deep down into the dark depths giving me a good estimation of its profundity.

"Wow that's deep … wouldn't want to accidently fall in that," I thought out loud.

I got back on my feet with my dolly in toe and step by step moved forward.

"Mommy," I called out.

My voice seemed to echo off the hall seemingly making my location a dead giveaway to anyone listening. Still I received no response in return.

"William," I murmured my brother's name but once again obtained no acknowledgement.

I abruptly stopped seeing a vast shadow of something around the corner leading further into another hall. The shadow's maw slowly opened revealing dagger shaped teeth releasing a faint hiss. I froze where I stood … my instincts were screaming the words _run_ over and over again, even the voice that sweet talked me into going on this little adventure was yelling _get the hell out of there_; but for some odd reason my feet weren't moving; like they were glued to the floor. The shadows form appeared to get larger as it came closer and closer to rounding the corner. Finally my feet slowly began to back track the way I'd came; I kept my eyes on the sinister shadow not daring to even breathe fearing that the smallest of sounds would alert my presence. Out of nowhere something to my left roughly grabbed me by the arm jerking me into a random room. I didn't even get a chance to comprehend what had occurred when I was crushed against a hard chest and easily carried off into the confines of what I now just figured out was a large kitchen if the quick glimpses of pots, metal counters and other kitchen type objects were any indication. I screamed but a large hand hastily smashed against my mouth muffling it.

"Shhh," came a voice over my head.

I frantically sought out the voice my eyes looked up seeing the face of a guy I didn't know. The right top of his face and head was completely covered in bandages. He had a huge cut from his left cheek caring on down his neck disappearing under the back T-shirt and vest he wore. It was no doubt he was one of those soldier guys that appeared any time there was a problem; the question was what was the problem?

"Look kid I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered.

He peeked over the metal counter we were be hide and in a flash looked back at me. The eye that wasn't hidden showed a glint of panic and was full of apprehension. He tried to soften his features into something more soothing and reassuring but was failing miserably. His eye slightly lowered to stare at the hand still tightly cupped over my mouth.

"If I remove my hand will you scream again?" He asked.

Without hesitation I nodded my head. He lightly chuckled slightly shaking his head looking down somewhat. He looked back up at me; his face was void of all humor now and was completely serious.

"Look kid as much as I like your honesty now's not the time to act stubborn. Now do I have your cooperation or not," he said.

I thought it over wondering what he would do if I refused his attempt to collaborate but did not want to push his patience. I slowly nodded my head. He stared down at me for a brief moment before nodding his head once. The harsh grip on my mouth loosened as he hesitantly let go and pulled away. As much as I would have liked to scream bloody murder then and there I didn't. The sturdy arm around my thin waist slowly unwind itself and I gladly pulled away from the uncalled for closeness and silently sat there on my knees. He stared down at my still form and nodded his head confirming I wouldn't run away. He looked back over the counter to the closed door we came through nervously tapping a index finger over the barrel of what I now just noticed as a intimidating gun he held in his possession.

"Lilyann," I abruptly said.

The man looked back down at me; shocked that I actually said something.

"My name's Lilyann … not kid," I resolved.

A faint smile appeared on the man's beaten face and he chuckled once more.

"Lilyann?" He asked still smiling bringing a hand up to rub his tired looking eye.

I nodded and slightly grinned. He brought a hand up to ruffle my curly hair which resulted in bringing up old flashbacks at how William use to do that. Once done with basically assaulting my hair he sat there and smiled quite amused forgetting about are current circumstances at how I tried to make a futile attempt to fix my now nappy tresses. This now reminded me how much I hated it when William did this cruel show of affection and I could only glare at the man through my locks in pure annoyance.

"You know," he began just as I gave up on subduing my now feral like hair. "You remind me so much of my little sister."

He looked away from me and stared off at nothing. His face was blank as he reminisced through his memories. For a split second something in his visage portrayed sorrow as if the remembrance pained him to look back on. The expression vanished before I got a chance to further evaluate it and he looked back down at me and tilted his head oh so slightly to the side. Out of nowhere he held out his hand which made me jump at the suddenness. I wordlessly gawked at the out stretched hand stupefied. I looked back at his face questioningly.

"Roger Zaik," he said in a hushed robust tone.

He said the name, his name proudly and without any ounce of indignity. He lifted his hand up somewhat in encouragement. I smiled at the corniness of it all but went along with it anyways.

"Lilyann Lana," I dramatically whispered back.

I placed my petite hand in his much larger hand and we shaked once. The moment was short lived when the door to the kitchen abruptly bolted open causing blinding light to poor in to the enormous kitchen. The doors momentum continued on hitting the wall with a loud bang. Reflexively his hand tightly gripped mine pulling me towards him protectively. I willingly allowed this making no disputes as I buried my face into his torso. We tensely sat there hearing the sounds of claws slightly tapping and scrapping against the metal flooring signaling us of our unsolicited visitor. Loud huffing breathes could be heard at the entrance; our only way out … obstructed by our lethal pursuer.

"Hold on tight," whispered Roger in my ear.

Without any hesitation I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist; something a baby chimp would instinctively do with its mother. He began to move to the other side of the kitchen and as he did so I felt something drop from my person and I peeked over his broad shoulder to see the object I seemed to have disregard.

"Wait my dolly," I murmured into his armpit.

He must have not of heard me because he didn't show any signs of stopping. I watched helplessly as we continued to move further away. Once on the other side of the kitchen he rounded a couple rows of counters moving deeper into the enormous kitchen finally stopping at the last elongated counter.

I let go of him and sat at his side. He lifted his gun and closed his eyes. He began muttering something reaching into shirt pulling out a silver cross. I turned away and lied down on my tummy flat on the floor using the lack of space under the counters as my view to see the creature. I watched wide eyed at spotting black non human feet slowly making its way through the kitchen and around counters; stalking … like a loin would do to a gazelle.

It was in the middle of the kitchen now; right in the spot we were just occupying. Its feet came to a halt before my doll and I quickly clasped my hands over my mouth. A black slender hand edged with sharp talons on each finger slowly came down into view. The hand grabbed Minnie by the throat and unhurriedly lifted her up and out of view. I firmly closed my eyes, thinking how this whole situation felt like that scene in Jurassic Park when those two kids were hiding in the kitchen from a couple man-eating dinosaurs. Large inhalations could be held as it sniffed its new found object inquiringly. An extensive hiss echoed off the confines of the kitchen as it seemed to be very pleased at what it smelt.

A rough hand firmly but softly grabbed my shoulder. I looked up at the face of Roger as he fashioned a sad smile. He bent down and began to whisper instructions in my ear. Something involving … "Run as fast as you can" … "I will distract it so you can have enough time to get away" … I didn't say anything when he explained his defiant suicidal plan. I wasn't sure if I was just somewhat in a haze at seeing something that would only exist in nightmares or if I just gave up and didn't care anymore. My hands by now were lying limply at my sides intensifying my given up state when something was unexpectedly shoved into my grasp. It felt rubbery like plastic and it seemed rectangular shaped. I gazed down at the object; it was one of those verification cards that allowed certain people admission to certain parts of the building. The card I had now was a gold color which was the most privileged of cards. (Or what my Mommy told me one day) In other words I could get anywhere in the building with this. He gave a brief explanation on it saying that basically this very card will be my ticket out of here.

I was still looking at the elite pass when I felt him brush pass me on all fours using the metal counter at his benefit to stalk closer to our stalker. Eventually my brain began to process the whole proposal ultimately coming to the conclusion of what Roger was going to do. Panicked I sat back up staring at his form at the other end of the counter. He looked at me and smiled and nodded his head once. I frowned and frantically shook my head no. His smile widened and I couldn't help but admire his calm demeanor at the fact that the creature was so close to him now. Roger was on one side of the counter and I could somewhat see the top of the creatures head on the other side swiping it back and forth in search of us; boy was it about to receive a shock.

Roger closed his eye turning his head away; he silently inhaled and exhaled once before opening his eye again; fire and determination burned in its wake and I watched in awe as he stood up whipping around and opening fire. The first few shots and the screech of the creature kept me planted firmly on the ground; frozen once again.

The sound of Roger yelling the words go! Run now! Was like the antidote to my paralyses.

I burst out of my hiding spot running past the battle field now taking place. Pots flew through the air in every direction littering the floor with thunderous sounds and some hitting me stunning me for the moment but caused nothing more than a small delay before I determinedly continued as fast as my short legs would let me. This and the consistent war cries mixed destructively together into a ball of chaos. I ran not even taking a gaze back at the two battling opponents; not quite sure which side was overpowering which. I was so close to the door now but stopped all most falling forward at the momentum of my hectic dash.

I stood there shocked and still panting from my run at the black muzzle that poked its way in the entrance. The scream of Roger scared the daylights out of me and I whipped around. My eyes frantically looked from left to right and found nothing but a cluttered kitchen. I looked up at the ceiling spotting a vent opened; the door slightly swinging back and forth ripped from its hinges smeared with crimson blood at its opening. The heavy steps be hide me brought me back to reality; a situation I wish was all just a harmless nightmare. I turned around … ready to see my killer for the first and last time with unknown bravado. If I was going to die then I would at the most prefer to be face to face and standing tall then cowering in the corner waiting for the final blow.

A black like serpent stood at the door its lips lifted up revealing clear teeth; which in a way almost looked like glass. It opened its maw releasing an earsplitting screech. I stood there; not even slightly intimidated by its show of terrorization. My eyes were glued to its colossal cranium and I couldn't help but softly giggle.

"Your head looks like one of those oblong people," I truthfully said to the creature before me.

I'm sure if the creature were more human-like then it would probably make a sound that sounded similar to _huh_ then it would scratch the side of its head in confusion. All went silent; the creature's teeth were no longer bare as it had its head cocked to the side; studying me. I did the same as I carefully looked at the skeleton like body; the claws the spear like tail, a being meant for killing.

"You know … in a why you remind me of this cat I use to have named Midnight," I blurted out. "Well despite the … obvious outer appearance," I babbled on.

The creature began to slowly advance; its tail promptly swished back and worth as it stalked forward; cat-like. _This is it_, I thought. I stood my ground clenching my small hands into fist not listening to my natural instinct to turn heel and grab the nearest weapon (Not that there was any) in self-defense. The creature was in front of me now, it stood to its full height and I had to unpleasantly crane my neck to find the creatures face; if I even considered its features a face. It was more than six feet in height compared to my short stature of three feat six inches. It sluggishly lowered itself to a crouch position making us see eye to eye. Its breathing was heavy and blasting my face with horrid puffs of air every exhale. I looked down at its hands slowly lifting coming towards my face; thoughts of the creature snapping my neck ran through my mind and I didn't even bother hiding the flinch when it cupped both sides of my face with its larges hands. My eyes were strained closed but relaxed at the touch of it talons gently scratching the back of my head; like an odd message. I opened my dark eyes to the creature searching out its features for an expression but found it unreadable. Its head leaned back and its hands stopped its caressing and securely gripped my head but not to the point where it was painful. I furrowed my brows in confusion at the sudden change in mood. Its lips twitched then in a flash opened its mouth propelling small teeth I didn't know were there. Its inner jaws were only a centimeter away from my face; my eyes were wide but I didn't flinch … I didn't do anything. My knees felt like jelly like they were going to give out any minute now. The smaller jaws opened and closed once before slowly retreating back into the creature's maw. Its glass like teeth closed once again hiding its other deadly jaws secretly. The hands around my face relaxed and I continued to stare up at the supposed killer that easily could have killed me then and there but didn't. Its head was slightly cocked to the side regarding me. I smiled.

"What was that suppose to be … a trust exercise," I jokingly murmured.

The creature let out a huff of breathe before quickly removing my head and walked on all fours to the door. It stopped at the entrance and somewhat looked over its shoulder to look at me.

"What … you want me to get on," I thought baffled with raised brows.

The creature looked away but continued to sit there in a crouched position. One minute these things are out for blood the next minute they are offering piggy back rides. I slowly started to approach and stopped once I was be hide it; wondering how I wanted to do this. The creature had four spikes protruding from its back. I slowly reached a hand out and cupped the top left spike using that as my anchor to lift myself up. Both my hands were securely gripped on either side of the two top spikes and my legs lied at the base of the two bottom spikes. I laid my chin on its left shoulder while its head passed my right shoulder.

"I'm ready," I whispered not knowing what exactly I WAS ready for.

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**Author's Note: **Well I suppose you're in for some much needed explaining if you still don't understand up to this point. Basically the setting is something similar to the way the building in Aliens was. (Though it is much larger and is connected through maze after maze of ongoing halls levels and hundreds of room). So yeah this story has yet another plot where somehow someway the Xenomorphs escaped and have taken over the building and have killed anything and everything; well except Lilyann. This chapter is actually suppose to be chapter two but I was not at all enthused in writing chapter one where everything is introducing things and is a complete bore so I skipped it and got to the more interesting part. If I receive a favorable amount of reviews then I might go back and write it or just continue on where this chapter left off; still haven't decided yet. For those of you who are wondering why Lilyann was so … what's the word … naïve, bold, simple-minded then it's because she is still very young I might remind you and doesn't exactly understand the cruelty of something's. The only reason why Lilyann lives at UV 5948-348B is because both her parents work there and are well renowned scientist.

Review, fav, flame; do what you find necessary but please leave something so I know the story is being acknowledged.

Please and thank you!

-W. Lynn


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